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Up in Flames
Up in Flames is the third studio album by Canadian recording artist Josh Kingston. It was released on 28 June 2013 by Banana Music under a partnership with Indigo Records and Thirteen Records in association with Kingdom Music. Development for the album first began in March 2012 while recording sessions took place during the first half of 2013. The album is a follow-up to his 2012 album ''In January. The album sees a return of his standard alternative rock genre, however replaces his signature pop rock sound with new genres including funk, disco, and R&B. Kingston has stated the album was influenced by "70's funk and psychedelic music", while the album also compromises an "R&B-rock flare". The record's main themes include nostalgia, lust, and sex. The album's lead single "Charlie Brown" was released on 3 March 2013, followed by its second single "Madness", released on 19 April 2013 and its third single "Get Lucky", released on 6 June 2013. Upon release,'' Up in Flames'' received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Kingston's ability to utilize numerous unique genres and complimented his improving talent; although some critics noted that his vocal ability was at times subpar. Kingston continued promotion of the album following its release - its fourth single, "Strawberry Swing" was released on 21 July 2013, and its fifth single "Talk" was released on 30 September 2013. Its sixth and final single "Bad Religion" will be released on 7 December 2013. A deluxe edition is scheduled to be released on 29 January 2014, which will be preceded by the newly-recorded single "It Takes Two" which will be released on 1 January 2014. In November 2013, the album was certified Gold by the Banana Music Certification System. Development history '''March–December 2012: Early development & title In March 2012, Kingston announced his intentions to record a third album. Initially, Kingston had planned to have his third album consist entirely of original music, and he was hoping to spend the majority of the remainder of the year writing for the album. However, Banana Music advised him that the process of recording an original album would be strenuous and time consuming, so Kingston subsequently decided to have his third album consist of mainly covers. Despite this, he continued writing original songs, which he planned to incorporate onto his third album or onto other future releases. Following the release of'' In January: Four Seasons'' in June 2012, Kingston had an online conference with Banana Music founder, Nick Roads, where they discussed Kingston's third album. During this conference, Kingston expressed interest to begin recording his third album in September 2012 for a potential April 2013 release, similar to what was done with his second album (which began recording in September 2011 and was released in April 2012). However, after looking through files on his computer, Kingston recovered audio from recording sessions from his second album, and decided to release a second re-release, In January: The Complete Collection, which was released in November. Due to the promotion of The Complete Collection, Kingston postponed the start of recording for his third album. In December 2012, while putting together the theme of the album, Kingston was looking for inspiration and came across pictures of the city of Amsterdam, as well as Joseph Mallord William Turner's The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons paintings, which depict the 1834 burning of the Palace of Westminster. Following this, Kingston decided to give a "firey European" persona to the album. After discovering the song "Up in Flames" by Coldplay, Kingston decided to cover the song and name the album after it, although the song was ultimately not included on the record. He also chose to record the song "Lost" by Frank Ocean, which includes a reference to Amsterdam, and the song "Amsterdam" by Coldplay - however neither of the songs made the final cut of the album. He briefly considered naming the album Amsterdam. Later on in the album's recording process, Kingston became inspired by Jamaica after deciding on a Summer release and travelling to the Carribean country. The background image on the album is a photo that Kingston took during a bus tour in Montego Bay, Jamaica in July 2012. 'January–June 2013: Recording & release' Kingston began recording his third album on 1 January 2013. The first song he recorded for the album was "Madness". Following this, he recorded the tracks "Tonight I'm Getting Over You", "Cinema", and "I Need Your Love". After realizing the album was becoming an EDM and dubstep album, Kingston decided that he wanted the album's overall sound to be completely different and all three of these songs were dropped. Later that month, he had another online conference with Roads, where they discussed the title, release date, and release strategy for his new album. During this conference, Kingston expressed dissatisfaction with the album so far and announced his intention to scrap the album's EDM and dubstep tracks and essentially start over. He told Roads that he wanted to make "a funk rock and R&B summer album" that contained minimal electronic influences and sounded "very 1970's disco funk-esque" while "capturing the emotion of modern alternative rock, R&B, and reggae". Roads advised him to listen to the music of Frank Ocean, Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson, Queen, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, and Tame Impala. In mid-February, Roads told Kingston that Banana Music wished to release the album during the last week of April (the same time'' In January'' was released in 2012) however Kingston estimated that the album would not be completed until May. Kingston told his label that he would have enough finished songs to choose a single by the end of February. He continued recording the album, and initially chose to release "State of Grace" as the lead single. However, he changed his mind regarding the single several times, chosing songs such as "Madness", "End of Time", "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Clocks". At the end of February, he submitted "Clocks" to Banana Music to release as the lead single, however changed the single to "Charlie Brown" at the last minute. On 3 March 2013, he announced a June 2013 release for the album, which was later specified as 23 June in an 8 April announcement. As recording for the album reached a climax, Kingston noticed that he had only recorded one song by a female during recording sessions and decided to make the album "masculine while still having poignant moments". He stated the album would be "funner and generally happier" than his first two albums. Kingston took a recording hiatus in March and recording resumed the following month. On 8 April, he guest hosted Banana Recordz Countdown where he announced that Up in Flames would be available on 23 June. On 19 April, the album's second single "Madness" was released. Two days later, he announced that the album was finished, however that he would record the final song in May. However, on 6 May, he stated that he was still recording new songs for the album. He spent the rest of May re-recording several tracks and briefly considered scrapping the two already-released singles. On 1 June, he announced the album's release had been pushed back to 28 June. The album's third single "Get Lucky" was released on 6 June. A few days later, he scrapped half of the album and re-recorded and replaced several tracks in order to make the album "less idiosyncratic and more enjoyable". In order to do this, he removed the only two original songs that he had written himself for the album, which he described as "too grungy" to fit the album's theme. The two original songs were called "Manhattan" and "White Piano". A total of twenty-three tracks were recorded for the album, however only ten made the final cut. On 21 June, Banana Music Group said in a statement that, although Up in Flames contained "sexual content", it did not contain "explicit language" and therefore would not be issued with a parental advisory. Recording for the album was completed on 25 June and the album was turned in later that day, however its final mix was not approved by Nick Roads and three songs: "Elephant", "Sweater Weather", and "Strawberry Swing" required re-mixing. Kingston re-produced the tracks and turned in the album on 27 June. The final mix was approved three hours before the album's release. The album was released as planned on 28 June for digital download via SendSpace. '''July 2013–present: Subsequent promotion & ''Deluxe Edition On the day of the release of Up in Flames, Kingston posted an open letter on TwitLonger entitled Up in Flames: A Letter. The letter detailed the album's recording process and stages of development, and also briefly discussed his plans for his fourth album. A second open letter, entitled Up in Flames: 5 A.M. Life was released on 29 June, in which Kingston described his thoughts on the album being out. "Strawberry Swing" was released as the album's fourth single on 21 July 2013. The album impacted digital streaming service Chirbit on 15 August with a revised track listing. A newly-recorded version of "Charlie Brown" entitled "Charlie Brown (Live)" was released on 31 August. "Talk" was released as the fifth on 30 September. As of 1 October, the album is available for physical CD purchase. On 21 October, he released a third open letter entitled Up in Flames: October where he discussed the upcoming conclusion of the Up in Flames era and hinted that a re-release would take place. On 10 November, he announced that "Bad Religion" would be released as the album's sixth and final single in December. Banana Music Group announced on 1 November 2013 that Up in Flames: Deluxe Edition ''will be released on 29 January 2014; containing six newly-recorded songs. The deluxe edition's lead single "It Takes Two" will be released on 1 January. Singles 'Official singles' *"'Charlie Brown" premiered as the album's lead single on 3 March 2013 via a highly anticipated and publicized USTREAM. The song was released for digital download and online streaming on the same day. It impacted Banana Radio on 4 March. The song has been certified Gold. *"Madness" premiered on Banana Recordz Countdown on 15 April 2013. The song had been planned for digital download and online streaming release on 16 April, however was delayed to 19 April in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. Prior to official release, Kingston leaked the song on his Chirbit account on 12 April. The song has been certified Bronze. *"Get Lucky" was released as the album's third single on 6 June 2013. Upon initial release, the song became available for digital download via SendSpace and online streaming via Chirbit. It was released for online streaming via YouTube on 11 June. A music video for the song was filmed on 23 June and is awaiting a Fall release. The song has been certified Bronze. *"Strawberry Swing" was released for digital download via SendSpace on 21 July 2013 as the album's fourth single. It was released for online streaming via Chirbit on 30 July. A music video for the song was filmed on 9 August and is awaiting a Winter release. A lyric video was released via Viddy on 20 August. The song has been certified Bronze. *"Talk" was released for digital download via SendSpace on 30 September 2013 as the standard version album's fifth single. The song was released for online streaming via Viddy on 1 October. A lyric video for the song will be released via YouTube on 17 November. The song has been certified Gold. *"Bad Religion" will be released as the album's sixth and final single on 7 December 2013. '''Promotional singles "I Need Your Love" was released for online streaming via Chirbit on 2 April 2013, after premiering on Banana Recordz Countdown the previous day. The song was released as a promotional single primarily to promote Kingston's appearance as a guest host on the 8 April episode of Countdown. After the album's track listing was revamped and Kingston scrapped several of the album's songs, "I Need Your Love" was ultimately emitted from the final track listing and therefore did not appear on the album. The album's second promotional single, "Treasure" was released on 27 June 2013 for online streaming via Chirbit. The song was the final song to be released prior to the album's release, and was primarily intended to promote the SendSpace download release of Up in Flames. "Bad Religion" was released as the album's third promotional single on 30 July 2013 for online streaming via Chirbit. It was the first post-album release promotional single and was intended to promote the Chirbit streaming release of the album. Josh Kingston released two promotional singles on 15 September 2013 for online streaming via Chirbit. The first, "Locked Out of Heaven" was released as the album's fourth promotional single, while the second, "Talk" was released as the album's fifth promotional single. "Elephant" will be released as the sixth promotional single on 5 November 2013. Promotion 'General promotion' Kingston began promoting the album in Fall 2012; prior to the commencement of recording. The album was largely promoted through Twitter, while the video sharing services Cinegram and Vine were also used to promote the album in June 2013. A banner for the album also appeared on Banana Music's website and several promotional videos were uploaded to the Banana Television YouTube channel. Following the album's release, Banana Music described the album as the "most-promoted record" in the label's history. In May 2013, Kingston declared plans to release every song on the album as either a single, promotional single, or radio-only single, however later cancelled these plans after switching to a new publishing company. In November 2013, Banana Music posted a 6-second clip of every song on the album on their Vine account. 'Live performances' 'Concerts and press events' Kingston performed "Charlie Brown" during a live press event on 29 March 2013. He performed a medley of "Strawberry Swing" and "Bad Religion" at a promotional event in New York on 28 June 2013 to celebrate the release of the album. On 4 July 2013, he performed at the We Are Saviour Benefit Concert in Buffalo, New York where he performed "Madness". On 16 September 2013, it was announced that Kingston would perform "Bad Religion" during the first semiannual Banana Music Group Press Event on 30 November. 'Online live shows' Kingston will perform a collection of songs from his career during a live show entitled Josh Kingston Live in February 2014. The performance will be broadcasted live via USTREAM. Composition Kingston has stated that he considers the album to be made up of two entirely different moods and atmopsheres - with the first half of the album containing "fun funky Summer songs" and the second half of the album primarily consisting of "slower alternative and indie rock tracks". The album is predominantly made up of the alternative rock, funk, disco, and R&B genres, while also including post-Britpop, psychedelic rock, electronic rock, synthpop, reggae, rock, neo-soul, new wave, and quiet storm influences. The album's opening track "Talk" is a "breezy" alternative rock track originally recorded by Coldplay for their 2005 album X&Y. The lyrics of the track involve a man seeking therapeutic advice. "Madness", the album's second track, is an electronic rock and synthpop track originally recorded by Muse for their 2012 album The 2nd Law that Kingston describes as "intense". The song is about a complex and difficult relationship. "Charlie Brown", an alternative rock and electronic rock track originally recorded by Coldplay for their 2011 album Mylo Xyloto, serves as the album's third track - with Kingston describing it as "a Spring weather" song that is "light and airy". The lyrics of the song are from a man's point of view; discussing nostalgia of living in an urban area. The album's fourth track "Get Lucky" is a funk disco track originally recorded by Daft Punk for their 2013 album Random Access Memories and featuring Pharrell that Kingston describes as "sensually Summer". The lyrics of the track involve a man describing his sexual and romantic desires. The album's fifth track is the indie rock song "Sweater Weather", originally recorded by The Neighbourhood for their 2013 album'' I Love You'', which Kingston describes as one of the album's "more intense moments". The song's lyrics focus on a relationship blossoming during the winter. The album's sixth track is "Strawberry Swing", originally recorded by Coldplay for their 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, however Kingston replaces the lyrics with the ones of Frank Ocean's 2011 Nostalgia Ultra version, which Kingston describes as "nostalgic and emotional". The song's lyrics focus on a man reminiscing during an apocalypse about his summertime activities. The album's seventh song "Locked Out of Heaven", originally recorded by Bruno Mars for his 2012 album Unorthodox Jukebox is a new wave, funk, and reggae rock track that Kingston describes as "really fun and sexy". The lyrics describe a man feeling he has been shunned of his sexual desires because of his female interest's hard-to-get personality. The album's eighth track "Elephant" is a psychedelic rock track originally recorded by Tame Impala for their 2012 album Lonerism that KIngston describes as "bangingly high" and "very rock-ish". The lyrics focus on a man describing another man whom he feels is cocky and self-centered. The ninth and penultimate track "Treasure", recorded by Bruno Mars for 2012's Unorthodox Jukebox is a disco and funk song that Kingston compared to "Get Lucky", calling it "a lot of fun and totally care-free". The song focuses on a man describing how "special" his love interest is. The album's final track "Bad Religion", originally recorded by Frank Ocean for his 2012 effort Channel Orange is an R&B neo-soul song that sees the album take "a very emotional turn", with Kingston describing it as "heart-breaking" and "the most poignant song on the record, by far". The lyrics of the song focus on a man discussing his sins with a taxi driver. Track listing The official track listing for the album was kept a secret and was not released prior to the album's release, however many rumored track listings were released prior to the album's release. The track listing for the Chirbit Edition of the album was unveiled on 3 July 2013. Release history Critical reception Upon release, Up in Flames received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Kingston's improved vocals and his ability to utilize several genres.'' First Stop News'' gave the album a 79%, calling it Kingston's best album to date. In the review, the news port stated, "With his latest effort, Kingston offers listeners; vocally and song-choice wise, his best album to date. While his previous records have consisted of strong alternative and pop rock influences, Kingston shows with Up in Flames that he is not scared to experiment with other genres - giving listeners a highly-diversified and unique musical experience. Although Kingston's vocal ability is clearly continuing to develop and strengthen, his talent has improved remarkably in the last year, and with his newly-found musical stance, it is clear that Kingston's highly-anticipated upcoming original album will be an exciting and unique effort". Briser le Bordeaux Nouvelles published a positive review, giving the album 8.2 out of 10 stars, and stating, "Although Kingston's vocal ability is obviously still improving, he has created an exciting funk-rock album that displays and shows off his unique taste for music and shows that he is starting to become a respectable and diverse musician", although criticized the album's "abundant" themes which were described as "confusing". ''Up in Flames: Deluxe Edition'' Up in Flames: Deluxe Edition is the upcoming fourth compilation album by Josh Kingston. Announced on 1 November 2013, Deluxe Edition will be the sole re-release of Up in Flames and will contain seven newly-recorded songs. The compilation album will be released on 29 January 2014. The lead single "The Last Time" will be released on 1 January 2014. 'Background and recording' In July 2013, following the release of Up in Flames, Banana Music Group contacted Josh Kingston about the possibility of him recording a re-release. Kingston initially declined, opting instead to focus on promoting the standard version of the album, however in August he recorded an acoustic version of "Sweater Weather". He sent the song in to Banana Music and requested that "Sweater Weather" be released as the fifth single from Up in Flames as an extended play that would also feature the acoustic version. However, Banana wanted to release "Talk" as the fifth single and instead advised Kingston to record an acoustic extended play. Kingston liked this idea more, and decided to continue recording acoustic songs. Eventually, he decided to also record new non-acoustic songs for inclusion on the extended play. In September, Kingston told Banana Music Group that he had enough newly-recorded songs to issue a re-release. Banana approved this, and Kingston continued recording the re-release throughout October and November. Banana Music Group and Kingston announced the extended play in a joint statement on 1 November. Two days later, Kingston unveiled the track listing and announced that "It Takes Two" would be released as the lead single on 1 January 2014. The album's artwork was unveiled on 12 November. He also stated that he had already chosen the second single, which he described as "very powerful" and "a perfect ending to the Up in Flames ''era". 'Track listing''' Songs with an (*) are newly-recorded.